My Perfect Summer Wedding

June 1st. Today is a new month. I woke up in a good mood, and went to check on Lili. I headed into the kitchen to find Sam and Jackson sitting at the kitchen table, going over Jackson's article.

It was an article he had stayed up late finishing last night — a profile on his school's new sports director. When I had gotten up to feed Lili at 2 AM, he was still working on it. And he read me the draft, which I thought was great.

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Apparently, the final version was even better. "We may have a future Pulitzer Prize winner living in this apartment," Sam said, and smiled.

Jackson looked embarrassed at first, but also really happy. It was a great article and I knew he was proud of himself.

He stood up and got his stuff together. "Okay, I'm out of here."

"Have a good day at school," I said.

"Thanks," he said.

"Maybe you'll let me take you for dinner later?" I asked. "We can go to that barbeque place in Harlem you like."

"Really? That sounds great," he said. He turned to Sam. "Do you have to be at the restaurant?"

Sam nodded. "Sadly."

"Then let's go to your place," Jackson said.

"Are you sure?" Sam asked. "You guys can go for barbeque and stop by to see me after..."

"No, I'd rather just go to your place. Your burgers are the best anyway."

"No argument with me on that," I said. And I could tell Sam looked happy.

"See you there at 7?" I asked.

"See you at 7."

After Jackson left, Sam and I sat enjoying a few minutes of quiet, over our coffee. Then Sam reached over and took my hand.

"So I was thinking..." Sam said.

I smiled at him. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," He said. And he smiled back. "How would you like to be a summer bride?"

I smiled bigger. We hadn't talked about any wedding plans yet. I certainly didn't want anything big — we couldn't afford it, for starters. Besides that, I would be happy getting married in our apartment, as long as Sam was the one I was walking towards.

"I would feel good about it," I said.

"Well, I know we're not going to do anything particularly fancy," he said. "But I talked to the staff at the restaurant and I was thinking I could take July 4th weekend off. The city completely clears out. They won't need me. And we could take a little road trip. The four of us."

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"Where to?" I asked.

"A sweet town in Connecticut called Madison. I found a great bed and breakfast, very kid friendly. With a garden. Something tells me you will absolutely love it. We can get married there. Nothing fancy. Simple. Perfect."

"Simple," I repeated. "Perfect."

Then I leaned in to kiss him, my sweet fiancé.

"Let's do it," I said.

"Let's do it," he said. "It will make our anniversary a great way to think about Independence Day."

June 1st. It is a new month, the beginning of summer. And here I am: feeling hopeful.

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